Lady Wolves end one of the best

The Lincolnton Lady Wolvesâ€™ tennis season came to an end Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the NC State Dual Team Playoffs losing to Wilkes Central 7-1.
Wilkes Central entered the match 18-2 and as the No. 1 seed from the Mountain Valley Conference. The Wolves had fallen to Wilkes 7-1 earlier in the season.
All-state selections Emily Mathis and Alexis Elmore spearheaded the Eaglesâ€™ effort beating Lincolntonâ€™s Shawn Kindley (6-0, 6-1) and Jessica Newton (6-1, 6-2).
No. 3 seed Liz Rhine came close to pulling an upset, but fell 4-6, 6-1, 7-2. Ashton Coffey, the Eaglesâ€™ 4 seed, defeated Angela Graham 6-0, 6-3.
A bright spot for Lincolnton was Shelley Stevens who slipped past Laura Rollins 7-5, 7-6. Anna Carpenter played Sarah Brown close, but lost 7-5, 6-3.
In doublesâ€™ play, Mathis/Elmore beat Kindley Newton 10-0. Rhine and Mary Heather Lineberger game Spencer/Coffey all they could handle. Their effort, while admirable, was not enough losing 11-9.
The Lady Wolvesâ€™ coach Chris Hoffman was very pleased with the Lady Wolvesâ€™ play despite the loss.
â€œWe lost to Wilkes Central earlier in the season by a similar score, but I thought we played them tougher today. Liz almost pulled a big upset and at No. 2 in doubles Liz and Mary Heather had a match point, but just came up a little short,â€ he said.
Lincolnton finishes the season 13-4 in a memorable year according to Hoffman.
â€œThese girls had a fantastic season–one of our best ever.â€
Final records for the Wolves (singles/doubles) are: Shawn Kindley 11-6/10-11, Jessica Newton 10-7/9-11, Liz Rhine 13-7/6-4, Angela Graham 12-4/13-2, Shelley Stevens 13-3/12-2, Anna Carpenter 13-7/8-2 for the first six seeds.
Other individual records are: Mary Heather Lineberger 5-0/8-4, Betty Royster 0-1/2-0, Anna Kiser 0-0/4-2 and Sheldon McCurry 0-0/2-2.
by John Mark Brooks